2013 PBA Basketball Carnival set to tip off in Chennai

In what is set to be an intriguing assembly of basketball youth, basketball legends, and amateur players with a passion for the game, Chennai’s Professional Basketball Ace (PBA) Club will tip off the 2013 PBA Basketball Carnival at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Periamat, Chennai, from January 17-20, 2013.

A total of 19 School Boys’ teams, 10 School Girls’ teams, 10 College teams and 8 Corporate teams have been lined up to take part in different tournaments at this basketball extravaganza. In addition, there will be a return of the much-beloved ‘Celebrity Game’, which is set to feature some of the greatest Indian basketball players of the past and the present. Competition will be held in the Interschool (Boys) division, Interschool (Girls) division, Intercollege (Boys) division, and an inter-corporate tournament. Satyabhama University (College) St. Peters Royapuram (Boys) and Vidyodaya (Girls) are the regaining champions of the last edition of the Championship.

Corporate teams participating are CTS (Chennai), Infosys (Bangalore), TCS (Chennai), HCL (Chennai), HP (Bangalore), Infosys (Chennai), Wipro (Chennai), and Mahindra Satyam.

"It's the corporate participation that will highlight this year's PBA Carnival," said Jayasankar Menon, former Indian national team star, and the chief adviser of the PBA, "We are promoting the event to corporations to promote the game of basketball. It's an opportunity for them to recruit players from the college event. It is also an opportunity for colleges to draft players from schools."

A long list of legends who are slated to participate in the ‘Celebrity Game’ include Mathew Satya Babu, Kalyana Sundaram, Amarnath, Pratibha Suryasekhar, Prasanna Jayasankar, Jayasankar Menon, CV Sunny, Jenna Zachria, Suren, S. Robinson, Anitha Paul Durai, and Geethu Anna Jose. Various dignitaries from film, industry, and other sports will also be invited.

The Celebrity Game and the Finals of the various tournaments will be held on Sunday, January 20th.